Nothing was the Same
by Zesty Bod
Summary: When Bonnie finally returns home, she's nothing like the girl she used to be. As Kai tries to mold her into his partner-in-crime, Damon tries to bring her back. Spoilers through 6x12.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back with another story! I do plan to finish "The World has Turned," but I kind of lost my mojo there for a minute. Knowing that Bonnie is coming back next week kick-started me and I wanted to play with the idea of a different kind of Bonnie. (I refuse to use the term "dark," as dark things and people are constantly portrayed as evil and bad and I don't accept that notion). Anyway, this is my latest work. Rest assured that this is not a Bonkai fic. It's Bamon all the way.**

Chapter 1

She had tried so hard.

For eighty-nine days, Bonnie had tried her hardest not to give up hope. Her faith and resolve had been tested so many times, starting when Kai abandoned her on Thanksgiving. She'd managed not to lose her mind and even had a glimmer of hope when Damon and Elena returned for her, only to be snatched away in the cruelest fashion. She kept her head up, praying that they would be back for her. Christmas came and went and she was still alone. She celebrated New Year's by toasting to herself with shots of bourbon. As the days stretched on with no word from anyone, her strength dissolved.

The thought of ending it all first flashed into her mind at the end of January, but she pushed it aside because she was Bonnie Bennett: tough, resilient and definitely not a quitter. She refused to quit on life, even as the hours slipped by. When she was still alone on Valentine's Day, her eyes lingered on a bottle of sleeping pills sitting on the counter, taunting her with thoughts of how easy it would be to give up. The little voice in her head telling her to end her pain only got louder and more insistent.

It was on her 19th birthday that she finally succumbed to the thoughts in her head. Her body was tired, her mind even more so. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized the face staring back at her. Her eyes were drained of color and her clothes hung off her skinny frame. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten a real meal, something more than cereal or microwavable dinners. It took all her energy just to get out of bed, never mind take a shower or do something with herself.

Still, seeing as it was her birthday and her last day on Earth, Bonnie managed to get up, shower, and eat breakfast. Her eyes stayed focused on the pills in front of her. She figured that they were the easiest, least painful way out. She hoped to fall asleep and simply never wake up. Her gaze then traveled to the outdated video camera at the end of the table. She'd decided to leave a goodbye note, more for herself than anyone else. It wasn't like she expected anyone to ever see it; she just wanted to get some things off her chest before she died.

She forced some eggs down her throat and gulped down a glass of orange juice before she swiped the camera and turned it on. The red light blinked at her, recording her sullen face, but she didn't speak. She had thought of all the things she wanted to say but none of them came to mind. She wanted to say something articulate and eloquent, profound and awe-inspiring. But she was so exhausted that she forgot all about that and just started talking.

"Damon, Elena...tell everyone that I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore," she said, almost startled by the sound of her own voice. She licked her lips and cleared her throat, still staring into the lens. "I tried. I really did. I waited. And hoped. And prayed. But none of you came for me."

Her eyes grew hot and she reached up to wipe a tear from her eye. She looked down to get her bearings for a moment, then back at the lens.

"You know, I was going to leave personalized messages to each of you, reminding you all of the good times we had. But why the hell should I?" she asked, her voice hardening, even as she continued to cry. "Why should I spend my last moments giving a shit about you when none of you give a shit about me? Where are you guys? Seriously? Matt, where are you? I jumped in a pool to save you from drowning but you're not here. Jeremy, I saved you from death so many times that I've lost count and yet, you aren't here. Stefan, my life has been absolute shit since you showed up and yet I still put myself in this position trying to save you! You're supposed to be so good and righteous. Why aren't you here, returning the favor?"

She scoffed through her tears and the anger built up.

"Caroline? Elena? I thought we were best friends. I would have never stopped until you guys were safe, but I guess you don't feel the same. And Damon..." Bonnie wiped her face again and stared hard. "Damon, Damon, Damon. I should have known better than to ever expect something from you unless it came attached to Elena. You probably forgot all about me once you saw her."

She laughed sadly, then stood up and brought the camera with her. Frustration and profound sadness and anger coursed through her veins and without thinking, she smashed the video camera onto the floor. She screamed and cried and grabbed the nearest thing to her, a chair, and tossed it. A spark of satisfaction went through her as the wood crashed into the wall. She continued to break everything in sight: glasses, dishes, the CD player, CDs and furniture. By the time that she was finished with her destruction, the kitchen and living room were obliterated and Bonnie was breathing heavily. She took a few deep breaths and looked up at the ceiling.

"Is that what you had in mind, Grams?" she asked aloud. "I know you can see me. I know you and the rest of those old witches are watching me. I thought you promised me peace. Is this what you wanted? For me to lose my mind and die miserably?"

No answer came and she only laughed sourly.

"You know what? Fuck you, Grams."

She grabbed the bottle of pills that was still sitting on the counter and then kicked the front door open. Her mind was racing and she had no real plan, until she saw Damon's car parked haphazardly in the front yard. She got into the driver's side and grabbed the keys that were already hanging from the ignition. She sped off in his most prized possession and as she drove, she thought of how poetic it would be to crash his car with her inside of it. If he ever made it back to her, he'd probably be more concerned about the car than her.

Before she could change her mind, Bonnie pushed the brake down so hard that the car screeched to a halt. She ripped the top of the pill bottle open and poured of avalanche of pills into her mouth. She worked up just enough spit to swallow a few, then a few more, than a few more. She didn't know how many she'd taken, maybe fifteen, maybe twenty. However many it was, she knew they would get the job done.

She drove again and kept her foot to the pedal with no real direction or idea of where she was going. She kept going until the pills started working and her eyes got heavy. She nodded off a couple of times, swerving off the road and quickly straightening herself. Her limbs went slack and in one last moment of clarity, she regretted the decision to end her life. But it was too late. She was about pass out and she knew she would never wake up. She couldn't control her sleepiness anymore and she finally let go of the wheel. Damon's Camaro veered off the road and ran head-first into a tree. Bonnie was barely conscious when her head smacked the steering wheel and everything went black.

Bonnie slowly came to some hours later. Everything felt heavy: her eyes, her body, even her tongue felt like it weighed twenty pounds. She groaned when she moved even slightly, and it took every ounce of strength to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but as she focused, she could tell that there was someone in front of her. It took some effort, but she managed to train her eyes to work again and there sat Kai.

"There she is," he sang. "Wakey, wakey, little witch."

"What..." The word felt like glue in her mouth and she very slowly licked her dry lips and tried again. "What...happ..."

"What happened?" he offered with a smile. "Well, you tried to off yourself. Lucky for you that I pulled you out of Damon's car before it exploded and burned your pretty little body beyond recognition."

Bonnie tried to sit up but she didn't have control of her arms and legs yet. She struggled to swallow and Kai poured her some water and brought it to her lips. She tried to fight him but she couldn't.

"Uh, uh, you need to drink it," he said.

The cold water felt amazing going down her throat and she accidentally moaned.

"Ooh, I like the sound of that," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"How?" she asked, unable to get out more than that.

"Long story short, I think your so-called friends were feeling guilty about leaving you here on your birthday. They tried to communicate with you, blah blah blah, they saw your suicide note video, blah blah blah, begged me to save you, and here I am. I brought a nifty little tube of vamp blood with me since I had no idea how I'd find you and what do you know? It saved your life."

Bonnie tried to take it all in but her head was still foggy. Kai patted her leg and stood.

"I'll let you get your bearings. Take a shower, too. You smell all smoky. We'll talk when you're done."

He left her room and shut the door behind him, and she lay on the bed, attempting to make sense of the situation. She didn't move for several minutes, but she could feel the vampire blood working its way through her system and repairing all the damage she'd done. Her head cleared, her arms and legs finally unlocked and she started to move. She didn't have much time to reflect on what an idiotic decision she'd made earlier because she was too worried about Kai's presence. She took him up on the suggestion to shower and after putting on some new clothes, she went downstairs and found Kai in the living room.

"You look much better," he said with a smile. "A lot less like death."

"I don't understand why you're here," she said.

"To bring you back home. Duh."

"Why you? Why not Elena? Or Damon?"

"Well, seeing as how Elena and Damon aren't witches, they weren't really an option. Without boring you with the details, I recently killed and basically ingested my younger brother and his annoying humanity has left me with an attack of conscience. Let's just say I feel bad that I left you here and I figured I owed you one."

Bonnie arched an eyebrow and folded her arms.

"So you expect me to believe that you're here because you feel _guilty_? You're a sociopath, Kai. You don't feel guilt."

"Things change, Bon-Bon."

Her face let him know that she didn't believe him.

"Okay, fine," he sighed. "My motives aren't completely altruistic, I'll admit. I'd like to have you on my side. Rescuing you would probably do a lot to earn your trust, right?"

"My trust?" she scoffed. "You _stabbed_ me. And you left me in this shit hole by myself for three months."

"To be fair, I was here alone for 18 years, so three months really doesn't sound that bad."

Bonnie's mouth formed a humorless straight line.

"Just take me back, Kai."

"Yeah, see, here's the thing about that. I kind of used up all my magic to get here. I don't have enough to do the spell to get back. But I do have the Ascendant! See?" He produced the metal object from behind his back and Bonnie shook her head in confusion.

"I don't understand. If you don't have magic, how will we get back?"

"You, of course."

"Me? I don't have my magic. You know that. Do you think I would have stayed here all this time if I had magic?"

"You don't have _spirit_ magic," he said.

He didn't finish the rest of his thought but the implication hung in the air like a fifty-pound weight. He was talking about Expression. Just the thought of it made Bonnie's heart hammer in her chest.

"No," she said.

"You have to, Bonnie," he said. "It's the only way home."

"No," she said firmly. "The last time I used Expression, I killed myself."

"You were okay with killing yourself about an hour ago. What's the difference?"

"I won't do it, Kai."

"Then I guess we're stuck here again together, aren't we?"

He sat down and put his hands behind his head, smiling like he didn't care at all. Bonnie shook her head repeatedly.

"No," she kept saying.

"Your call, Bon-Bon. I'm cool either way. But you...you're pretty much at the end of your rope. Do you really still want to be here?"

"I can't use Expression again," she said. "It made me different. It made me bad. That's not me."

"Newsflash, Bonnie, but you're _not_ you anymore. You've been alone for three months, your friends don't give a fuck about you, and you just tried to commit suicide."

She winced at his accurate assessment of the situation but she shook her head. "My friends do care," she said, even though the words sounded empty in her own head.

"Right," he laughed. "That's why they've tried _so hard_ to get you back. You can hear my sarcasm, right?"

She stood there silently, thinking about everything he said, and Kai stood up and took her hands in his. He tried to look sincere, but he just looked creepy.

"I can't control myself when I used Expression," she admitted quietly.

"I'll help you."

"Why? Why do you want me to do this?"

"Because I just became the most powerful witch in my coven, making me one of the most powerful witches in the world. The only way it would be better was if I had a Bennett witch at my side. We could run the world, Bonnie," he said, stroking her cheek.

A tear slipped from her eye.

"I don't want that," she said. "I just want to go home."

"Then you've got one option. Call on the Expression. It's simmering right underneath your skin. I can practically taste it on you."

She hadn't realized how close he'd gotten until she felt his warm breath on her face. She backed away from him and he stood his ground, smiling.

"So what's it gonna be?" he asked.

She weighed her options, but as scared as she was, there really was no choice to be made. She wanted to go home.

"I'll do it," she said.

Kai grinned and offered his hand. "Then let's get you home."

...

Damon paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and his cell phone in the other. He'd been checking the phone every few seconds, waiting for some kind of update from Kai, but so far he'd heard nothing. He tapped his fingernails on the glass that held his drink, then he took a big gulp and grimaced.

"Still nothing?" Elena asked, appearing at the door.

"No."

He poured another drink and she came up behind him and hugged his back. She kissed the back of his neck and he froze. She must have sensed his hesitation because she looked at him and frowned.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He stepped away from her and looked disbelievingly. "I'm worried about Bonnie."

"I'm sure she's fine."

"How can you be sure of that? Kai is the one who went back for her. He's not exactly trustworthy."

"She's Bonnie," she said with a shrug, as if that explained everything. "She always pulls through."

Damon stared at her for a moment, truly baffled as to how she could be so cavalier when the girl she claimed to be her best friend was in such a precarious state. He saw her reaching out for him, and he moved away.

"I'll be back later," he said.

He put his glass down, grabbed his leather jacket and then his keys. He got into his car before she could ask where he was going, and he drove to Bonnie's house. He thought she would go there whenever she got back, and he wanted to be the first to greet her. He expected to find her home dark and abandoned like it had been for the past several months, so he was surprised when he saw that the lights were on. There was a car in the driveway and he pulled up behind it and turned his own car off. He scoped the house out for a minute, then listened in and heard the sound of her voice.

He would never have admitted it out loud, but his heart leapt in his throat hearing her voice again. A sense of peace and calm that he hadn't felt since their separation came over him because he was happy to know that she was okay. She was alive. And he missed her.

Damon hopped out of his car and jogged up the steps of her porch. He rang the doorbell, then knocked on the front door a few times. He heard another voice that knew was Kai's, then footsteps. His hands actually got a little sweaty with anticipation and excitement from seeing her again, and when the door opened, he was almost smiling.

Only it wasn't Bonnie. It was Kai.

"Damon," Kai said with a big smile. "What can I help you with?"

"Where's Bonnie?" he asked impatiently.

"She's here."

"I realize that, dumbass. Tell her to come to the door."

"We're practicing magic right now, actually. It's been a while since Bonnie's used it and she's a little rusty. You could come back later, though."

"How the hell are you practicing magic?" Damon asked with a frown. "Miss Cuddles is still at my house."

Kai smirked, then turned and called to Bonnie over his shoulder.

"Hey, Bon-Bon, there's someone here to see you."

Damon tried to look past Kai when he heard the sounds of heels hitting the hardwood. Kai finally moved, revealing Bonnie looking way different than Damon expected. He thought she might be in some comfortable pajamas, bundled up and drinking hot cocoa and just being happy to be home. Instead, she was wearing a short black dress, a leather jacket that he was pretty sure was his, and some black leather boots with precariously thin heels. Her makeup was dramatic, especially around the eyes, making the moss green pop out against the charcoal eyeliner.

She looked different, but good. And he couldn't fight the smile curving at his lips.

"You couldn't have spared a call or a text to let me know you made it back?" he asked.

"Sorry. I was a little busy."

"It's cool. Whatever. Not like I missed you or anything," he said with a smirk.

He expected her to smile shyly and insinuate that she missed him, too, kind of the same vibe as when she told him "not exactly." He was ashamed to admit even to himself how many times he'd played that scene out in his head.

She didn't smile shyly, though. She didn't tell him she missed him or leap into his arms for a hug. She narrowed her eyes and nodded towards his car.

"You should leave," she said.

"What?"

"Go. I don't want to see you."

His eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown and he looked from her to Kai, who had a smug expression on his face.

"You don't want to see me," he said. "But you want to see Kai?"

"He's helping me."

"He doesn't _help_ anybody. He's _using_ you for something and you're crazy if you don't see that."

Bonnie quirked an eyebrow, then took a step outside and got so close to him that he could smell her perfume.

"I was crazy for thinking that you and I were ever friends," she said lowly. "I was crazy for thinking that you would come back for me, even after everything I've done for you. But I've gotten clarity, Damon. For the first time in a long time, I'm seeing things exactly as they are. Now leave, before I hurt you."

He was going to ask her how the hell she would hurt him without her magic, but then he was hit with the most powerful aneurysm he had ever had in his undead life. He crumbled to his knees and screamed, holding his head to make it stop. His bones snapped and his heart constricted so tightly that he thought his eyes might pop out. He looked at Bonnie and right before he passed out, he saw the black veins swirl around her face.

He woke up a short time later, still on the porch. The door was closed and he heard Bonnie and Kai laughing. He groaned and pulled his phone out to call Stefan.

"Bonnie's back," Damon said by way of a greeting. "And we've got a problem."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A week went by and Damon hadn't heard from or seen Bonnie or Kai. He went by Bonnie's house every day, only to find it abandoned like she had never even been there. He called her phone, which went straight to voicemail. He even called Kai's phone but Kai never answered. Every day that went by, Damon got more and more concerned about what kind of trouble Bonnie was getting herself into. When Liz called him over to the house, he was happy for the distraction. He thought she just wanted him to sit with her while she rested, so he was surprised when she handed him a manila envelope with the Sheriff's stamp on the front.

"What's this?" he asked.

"New case," she said tiredly. "I need you to work on it for me. Kind of like our final act as a team."

She smiled softly, but he frowned.

"Don't say that," he said. "You're gonna live for a long time. Who else would put up with me?"

"Open the file," she directed through a yawn.

He propped his feet up on the coffee table and opened the envelope, which contained a few pictures of what appeared to be a dead old woman. Damon turned the pictures around a couple of times, trying to figure out what was so special that Liz needed his help.

"It's a dead old lady," he shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"Her name is Lisa Waters," Liz responded. "She was found dead a couple of days ago right outside of Mystic Falls."

"Okay..."

"She was eighteen."

Damon's eyebrows hiked up to his forehead.

"Eighteen? She looks like she's a hundred years old!"

"And hence, why I called you. She was completely drained."

"I've never seen someone look like this after being drained of blood," he said.

"They didn't take her blood," Liz said mysteriously. "Someone drained her of life."

Damon closed the envelope and sat up straighter.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"The only way I can explain it is that whoever attacked her didn't drain her of blood, but basically stole her life force until she died. Hers is the first body found near Mystic Falls, but I did some checking and apparently some of the bordering towns have had bodies found in similar condition. Any ideas?"

"Well, I only know one person who's capable of siphoning energy from other people."

They said in unison, "Kai."

"I'll look into it," he said as he stood. He patted her hand. "Get some rest."

As soon as he was outside of the house, he whipped out his phone and Stefan.

"Looks like the search for Bonnie just got a little more crucial," he said. "Kai may be dragging her along on a killing spree. Get the Scooby Doo gang together and let's meet at the house."

He hopped into his car and drove by Bonnie's house again, just to be sure that she wasn't there. When he found it empty, he drove to his own house and by the time he got there, so had everyone else. Stefan, Caroline, Elena and Jeremy were crowded around the living room, and Damon rolled his eyes when he saw that the youngest Gilbert armed with a crossbow.

"Really? What the hell are you going to do with that?" Damon asked.

"I'm gonna shoot Kai the second I lay eyes on him," Jeremy said, puffing out his chest.

"No, you're not," Stefan told him. "We don't know what kind of hold he's got on Bonnie or how they're connected. No shooting, killing or maiming until we get a better idea of the situation."

"I can't believe this," Caroline said with wide eyes. "I can't believe that Bonnie's been back for a week and hasn't even said a word to any of us."

"She said some words to me," Damon said with a smirk. "Shortly before she tried to explode my brain, but I guess that's beside the point."

"What are we going to do?" Elena asked. "We need a plan. We just need to talk to Bonnie and I'm sure we can get through to her."

"That would require finding her first. And even if and when we do that, I'm afraid it won't be as simple as just talking to her," Damon said. "She's pissed and using Expression and probably not in her right mind."

"So what are you suggesting?" Stefan asked.

"Yes," a voice said that made all of them snap their heads in the direction of the door. "What are you suggesting?"

Bonnie strutted into the room, seemingly out of nowhere, followed by a smirking Kai. She was once again in a short dress that looked like it was painted on. Her hands were stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket, and her hair was sort of wind-blown and wild. She wore high-heeled black boots and she smiled as she stood right in the middle of the room.

"Please, don't stop on my account," she said.

"Oh my God, Bonnie, we've been so worried about you," Caroline said as she started to walk towards her.

"Sit down, Caroline," Bonnie ordered.

She flicked her hand in Caroline's general direction and the blonde went flying across the room, landing harshly in a chair. She tried to get up but was magically bound to the seat.

"What are you doing, Bonnie?" Elena screamed. "She's your friend!"

"Shut up," she said, and Elena's mouth suddenly closed and wouldn't open again. Elena's eyes widened in panic and she started to charge at Bonnie, only to be thrown against the wall and pinned there.

"Didn't you learn the last time I was using Expression that it's not in your best interest to screw with me?" Bonnie stood in front of her former friend and shook her head. "Elena, Elena. We used to be such great friends. What happened? Oh, that's right. You became a selfish slut that fucked two brothers and turned them against each other. I've kind of hated you for a long time."

Bonnie heard Caroline gasp in the background but she continued to stare at Elena, whose nostrils flared in anger.

"You know you're worse than Katherine?" Bonnie asked. "At least Katherine owned her messiness. She let her bitch flag fly and she didn't care what anyone thought of her. But you...you still try to hide behind those big brown eyes and act like you just don't understand why all these shitty things happen to you. Has it occurred to you that you brought it all on yourself by being a backstabbing whore?"

"That's enough," Stefan said.

Bonnie calmly turned to look at Stefan, who held up his hands in surrender and slowly backed away.

"You don't mean that stuff, Bonnie. You're not yourself right now. We're not trying to upset you, okay? We just want to help."

"_Help_?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow. "The time for _help_ has come and gone. I needed _help_ when I was stuck in a different dimension all by myself." She stalked towards him as he continued to back away. She ran her hands along the back of a chair, then broke it in half and tore off one of the wooden legs. Stefan's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Bonnie..." he said, shaking his head.

"Stefan," she taunted with a smile. "Are you scared?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"Only kind of?" she asked, pouting. "Then I'm not doing a good enough job."

Without warning, she threw him against the wall and stabbed the broken-off wood into his abdomen. He grunted, Caroline screamed and Elena thrashed about.

"I was scared," Bonnie said casually. "When I was alone." She twisted the wood and shoved it in deeper, making him groan loudly in pain. "I was hurt, too. It sucks being afraid and alone, you know?"

His eyes bulged as he tried and failed to remove the stake lodged into his stomach.

"Please," he begged.

She ignored him, then turned to Jeremy and Damon, who were standing statue-still with their hands out in self-defense.

"Bonnie, calm down," Jeremy said. "The Expression has a hold on you right now and you're not being yourself. You're gonna regret this."

"Oh, no, I don't think I will," she said with a big smile. "See, the Expression has freed me, Jer-Bear. I'm so powerful right now that I could crush all of your skulls without even blinking. But I'll be honest with you guys; I do have a little help. I've drained about five witches of their life force and I'm high as a kite on magic right now."

"That was you?" Damon asked. "You're the one who killed all those people?"

"_Killed_ is such a strong word," she said, turning on her heels to walk to him. "I just borrowed some of their energy and took a little too much. I meant to stop, but it felt so good. All that magic. And power. It makes me not feel the pain of abandonment and rejection. You know what that feels like, don't you, Damon?" she asked innocently.

He started to back up but she held up her hand and said, "don't move." He tried to move again but his legs were rooted to the ground and he was at her mercy. He stood up straight and watched as she circled him, running her hand down his chest, then around his waist.

"I thought you of all people would understand," Bonnie said. "I mean, Katherine rejected you. Elena rejected you. Hell, everyone prefers Stefan to you."

He gritted his teeth and didn't respond. He tried not to look at her at all when she was in front of him again, but he didn't have much of a choice when she grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes.

"But not me," she said in what he could only describe as a sultry whisper. She titled her head to the side and smiled. "As much as you hated being stuck in 1994 with me, as much as you wanted so desperately to get back to Elena, there was a part of me that thought maybe you enjoyed our time together. I just knew you would come back and save me. But you didn't."

"I tried to," he said. "I did everything I could."

"Well, it wasn't enough. I thought we connected."

"We did. Stop hanging out with this psycho and let me help you."

"Help me what? Help me go back to being your magical little negress that you call to fix all your problems? Who do I call when I have problems? Who's there for me, Damon?" When he didn't answer, she shook her head and the smile slipped off her face. "That's what I thought." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him so close that their lips were almost touching. "And to think, I was starting to have feelings for you."

His blue eyes widened and there was a gasp from someone, but Bonnie didn't turn around or break her stare at all. Instead, she opened her mouth like she might kiss him. Damon had no idea how to react and he braced himself to feel her lips on his, but instead, all he felt was a strange compulsion to open his own mouth. As soon as he did so, he felt a stream of energy flow directly out of his mouth and into hers. There was no way to describe it other than a creeping feeling of emptiness, and he realized too late that Bonnie was draining his life force.

"Bonnie, stop!" Jeremy said as he ran to her. Kai moved a finger and tossed Jeremy into a table.

Bonnie held on to Damon and continued stealing his life, even as his knees gave way and his body went slack.

"Bonnie, please, stop," Caroline said, as the situation became too much and she broke into tears. "You're killing him! You'll never forgive yourself if you kill him."

Damon wanted to beg for her to stop but he didn't have the strength to put together a string of words. He was helpless against her attack and Bonnie sucked him dry and he began to desiccate right in front of her. Caroline cried, Jeremy yelled and tried to physically restrain her, only to be constantly tossed around by Kai. Stefan muttered some nonsense as he kept trying to dig the stake out of his stomach, and Elena flailed around like a mad woman, mute and pinned to the wall. Bonnie kept going, gripping him tighter and tighter until there was only a drop left. She finally relinquished him and his body fell into a heap at her feet.

She threw her head back and nearly fell down as the vampire life force overcame her. The power pulsated through her body and she had to grab onto a chair to keep herself steady. When she opened her eyes again, Jeremy, Caroline, Stefan and Elena were looking at her in terrified awe.

"Bonnie," Jeremy said, "you have too much power. And your eyes..." He shook his head like he couldn't believe it. "They're glowing."

"Tell Damon not to come looking for me," she said. "I don't want to be found." She turned to Kai and nodded towards the door. "Let's go."

And just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone. Bonnie snapped her fingers and everyone was released from their holds, and Elena immediately ran to Damon and bit into her wrist. She brought the blood to his mummified face and forced it down his throat while Caroline helped Stefan remove the stake from his stomach.

"Come on, Damon, wake up," Elena said, cradling his head in her lap. "Drink, damn it!"

After a few drops got into his mouth, he began to weakly suckle at her wrist. The more blood he ingested, the stronger he got. His skin returned to normal and he opened his eyes and grabbed her wrist to keep it at his mouth. When he finally had enough, he pulled away with a groan.

"Where's Bonnie?" he asked, struggling to sit up.

"Gone, where she needs to stay," Elena said. She tried to rub his head but he yanked away from her and frowned.

"She needs help, Elena."

"She _needs_ a psychiatrist! She attacked all of us and nearly murdered you!"

"You weren't exactly a bed of roses when your humanity was off, either, but she didn't give up on you."

He pushed her off of him and got to his feet. He took a few steps and stumbled, but got up again and headed to the door. Stefan raced in front of him and held out his hand.

"She doesn't want us to go after her, Damon," he warned.

"I don't give a damn what she wants. She's in trouble and I'm not letting her down again."

"You need to rest. She was about three seconds away from killing you and we need a plan before we chase after her half-cocked. Not only is she incredibly powerful, but she's got Kai running around with her and the two of them are stronger than any of us."

Damon tried to push past him but Stefan grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him.

"Hey," Stefan said seriously.

"She needs me!" Damon yelled.

"I know."

The brothers stared at each other, silently communicating in the way they had perfected over more than a hundred and fifty years. Neither of them said anything about the giant elephant in the room, the bomb that Bonnie dropped when she said she had feelings for Damon, but they were both thinking about it. Stefan squeezed Damon's shoulders, affirming that they would address it when nobody else was around.

"Call Alaric," Damon finally said. "And tell him to bring Jo. We're gonna need some backup."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Within two hours, the Salvatore living room was transformed into a witchy science lab. Jo and Liv were chanting in a circle of candles, trying to locate Bonnie and Kai via locator spells, while the rest of the gang split up and read through books and grimoires to find a way to turn Bonnie back to herself. Damon had perched himself on a recliner, sucking down a glass of AB positive. He tried to look indifferent but the fact was that he was still shaken up from Bonnie's dismantling of him and everyone else, physically and mentally. His legs were wobbly and even after four bags of blood, he didn't feel like himself.

"This isn't working," Jo said with a sigh. She dropped her hands from Liv's and shook her head at Damon. "Bonnie and Kai are blocking our attempts to locate them. We're not strong enough to overcome them."

"I don't even understand why she's with him," Jeremy said. "I mean, he tried to kill her. He tried to kill everyone."

"Well, he obviously taught her how to siphon magic," Jo said.

"And she needs a running buddy," Damon said after a gulp of blood. "What's Bonnie without Clyde?"

"But why is _he_ with _her_?" Stefan asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "What's he getting out of it?"

"My guess is that he's pumping Bonnie full of magic in the hopes that she'll be powerful enough to make his powers permanent," Jo said.

"She can do that?" Damon asked.

"She's a Bennett witch," Liv said in her normal 'duh' tone. "She's _the_ Bennett witch, actually: the last descendant of Qetsiyah. Not only that but she's using Expression, draining supernaturals of magic, and oh yeah, if she keeps siphoning from vampires, she'll be invincible. She's the strongest witch on Earth and not even Kai can stop her. Making his powers permanent would be like child's play to her."

"Not exactly good news," Damon grumbled.

"So how the hell are we going to get her home and convince her to stop using Expression?" Jeremy asked.

"The last time we tried, it was going to take an entire coven of witches," Caroline spoke up. "Of course, I ended up killing all of them..."

"That's a good idea, actually," Jo said. "The more magic, the better."

"Great, you work on that," Damon said, as he stood up, "while I go find Bonnie."

"I'm coming with you," Caroline said.

"Me too," said Jeremy.

"Yeah, I should probably tag along, too," Stefan said.

"Hold on, hold on," Damon groaned. "This isn't a road trip where we all tell campfire stories and eat s'mores. I'm going to find Bonnie and it's better if I do it myself."

"She's _my_ best friend," Caroline said.

"And _my_ girlfriend," Jeremy piped up.

"Pretty sure she stopped being your girlfriend when you started banging everyone in town," Damon said dryly. He turned to Caroline and said, "and until _you've_ watched 'The Bodyguard' every night with her for three months, I think the best friend title actually goes to me."

"Whoa, should I be jealous?" Ric asked with a smirk.

"Look, we can fight over who loves Bonnie more some other time," Stefan said. "The more people on the trail, the more likely we are to find her. Ric, Jo and Liv can stay here and work the coven angle."

Everyone else seemed to be in agreement so Damon groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But the second one of you gets in my way, I'm kicking you out on the street." He started up the steps before turning to say, "we leave in an hour."

He marched up to his room and started throwing clothes in a duffel bag. He was still digging through his drawers when he heard a tentative knock on his door.

"Yeah," he called.

"It's me," Elena said as she walked inside and shut the door. She tucked some hair behind her ears and rocked on her heels. "I'm thinking I may not go on the trip with you guys."

Damon stopped to look at her, then shrugged. "Fine."

"Are you mad at me?" she asked. "I'm sorry about the stuff I said about Bonnie if that's what made you upset."

He sighed and shut the drawers to give her his full attention. "Look, Elena, I'm not mad at you. I'm disappointed. I wouldn't think that someone would have to tell you to help the girl you've called your best friend for your whole life. I get that she was out of control and said some things you didn't like, but you were pretty bitchy yourself when your humanity was turned off and Bonnie didn't bail on you. If you don't want to come, then don't. But if Bonnie does return to her old self, I think she'd be pretty hurt to know that you couldn't get past your own ego to help her."

He brushed past her and tossed some underwear into the bag, and Elena stood where she was.

"I know I don't remember our relationship," she said, "but have you and Bonnie always been this close? I thought you hated her."

"We were together for four months. We're friends now."

"But she has feelings for you."

He gritted his teeth in irritation and turned to her again. "Is there a point to any of this?"

"I'm sorry, Damon, I just want to know where we stand."

"This isn't about you!" he shouted. "This is about Bonnie! I realize that I've been guilty of letting you think that the sun rises and falls out of your ass, but today it doesn't. So either you're coming on this trip because you want to save Bonnie, or you're staying here. I'm not talking about _you_ or _us_ anymore."

Elena visibly winced at his words but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had let Bonnie down before by getting sidetracked with Elena, and he wasn't going to do it again. She quickly wiped her eyes and then left the room without telling him her decision. He rolled his eyes and grabbed a few more things, then went downstairs and put his bag in the trunk of his car. He waited impatiently for Stefan and Jeremy to pack, then for Caroline to return from her house. He took a few more shots of blood and rounded everyone one up and he was surprised when he saw Elena leaning against his car, looking apologetic.

Damon didn't address her other than to direct everyone to get inside and not put their feet on his seats. He took the driver's side, Stefan rode shotgun and the other three crammed into the back. He checked his rearview, put his sunglasses on and said, "let's go find us a little witch."

...

The five friends had been on the road for two days, headed towards New York, when they got a call from Liv that bodies were piling up along the southeast coastline. Damon turned the car around and headed south, sure that the witches and vampires that had been drained of life were Bonnie's victims. Every time they got a call about a dead supernatural, they pulled over and showed Bonnie's picture around the town. Nobody had seen her. They hit up every dive bar, club, and restaurant in sight to no avail. Even under compulsion, nobody admitted to seeing her.

"This sucks," Caroline said as she pressed her head to the back window. "We have no idea where Bonnie is."

"We do have an idea," Damon told her. "We're just too slow. We'll catch her eventually."

"What are we even going to do if we find her?" Elena asked. "She made it pretty clear that she doesn't want to be around us and she definitely won't listen."

"What Bonnie is going through is similar to when a vampire turns off the switch," Stefan said. "We just have to appeal to her humanity, give her a reason to come back home and be herself again."

"I'll get through to her," Jeremy said confidently.

Damon glanced at the young Gilbert through his rearview mirror and something about the smug look on his face made Damon want to smack him in the mouth.

"Can we stop and stay in a hotel for the night?" Caroline asked. "My butt hurts from sitting in this uncomfortable seat and I definitely need a shower."

"Ditto," Stefan echoed.

Damon agreed to stop, but only after he crossed the Atlanta city limit and drove downtown to the swanky hotel where he always stayed. The rooms were nice and there was a nightclub that offered easy pickings for a fresh meal. He valet parked his Camaro and compelled two suites for them: one for the guys and one for the girls. Once they were in their room, Damon dropped his bag on the ground and took in the panoramic view of downtown Atlanta, a place where he'd had many fun nights.

"I saw a restaurant downstairs," Jeremy said. "I'm gonna grab something to eat. I'm gonna see if the girls want to join. You guys in?"

"Thanks, but I think I need that shower," Stefan said.

"Damon?" Jeremy asked.

"Nah. I don't really have a taste for human food."

Jeremy shrugged and left, and Stefan went to his own bedroom and shut the door. Damon grabbed his bag and headed to his room, leaving the couch for Jeremy. He flopped on his back onto the bed and looked up the ceiling. "Where are you, Bon-Bon?" he asked quietly. He shut his eyes and almost immediately fell asleep. He hadn't realized how tired he was but after a few days on the road and still recovering from Bonnie's soul-suck, he was exhausted. He only woke up when he felt his phone buzz with a message from Ric.

_jo made contact w/ a witch. will keep u updated._

Damon typed back a response and almost put his phone away, when he went to Bonnie's contact information and dialed. He held the phone between his ear and shoulder and closed his eyes again, smiling just a little bit when the sound of her voicemail penetrated his ears.

"You know, you really should change your voicemail greeting," he said on his message. "Something a little jazzier, maybe. Something with more than six words would be nice. Anyway, I know you're never going to hear this message but I'm just calling to say that we're looking for you, whether you want us to or not. I'm not gonna give up on you. Especially not when you're this out of control. Liv tells me that you're the most powerful witch on the planet. I don't know whether to be proud or pissed off. I guess I'm proud. Who knew my little Bon-Bon could be such a badass?"

He smiled and hung up, content to drift back off to sleep.

"Who knew your little Bon-Bon could be such a badass?" Stefan asked, which caused Damon to jolt awake. He saw his younger brother's smiling face and his nostrils flared. "Jesus, Stefan, eavesdrop much?"

"I'm sorry, but your door was open so I assumed it was safe to come in. Had I known that you were going to call Bonnie and leave her a love note, I would have given you some privacy."

"It wasn't a love note," he said with a frown.

"Right. So are we ever going to talk about what Bonnie said? About having feelings for you?"

"She said she was _starting_ to have feelings for me. Judging from the way she attacked me twice, I think it's safe to assume she also _stopped_ having feelings for me."

"Maybe," Stefan said with a shrug. "But maybe not. You know what I think?"

"No, and I don't care but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway."

"I think that if anyone can get through to her, it's you. You guys have a bond now. You care about her."

"Yeah, whatever," Damon grumbled.

"You're grumpy," Stefan said with a smile. "How about we hit up that club so you can get some blood into your system?"

"That's the not shittiest idea you've had all day. Let me get pretty and then we'll go."

Damon sped through a shower and freshened up. He put on a fresh black oxford-style shirt and some jeans and boots, and then the brothers were out the door. They met up with Caroline, Elena and Jeremy and the five of them took the elevators to the 30th floor, where a hip club was nestled with an incredible view of the city. The place was packed with bodies and the thumping bass of hip-hop music filled the air. The large club area was dark, illuminated only by strobe and neon lights that flickered sporadically. People were dancing and drinking and it was the perfect place to tap some blood straight from the vein. Damon smiled as he separated from the group and immersed herself in the crush of people. He snagged a girl that was walking in front of him.

"Don't scream," he compelled her. "I'm going to bite you but you're going to stand there and take it. Understand?"

"I understand," she said robotically.

He didn't waste any time as he sank his teeth into her sweaty skin and her blood burst into his mouth. He groaned and gripped her closer, taking mouthfuls of the blood. He was so hungry that he kept going past the time he knew he should have stopped. The girl started to get weak and then Damon felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

"That's enough," Stefan said.

Damon reluctantly disengaged his teeth and Stefan discreetly fed her some of his blood, then compelled her to forget it ever happened and have a good time. She smiled and bounced away like nothing had happened and Damon sighed.

"Thanks," he said.

"That's what brothers are for."

They headed for the bar and ordered drinks, then leaned against the counter and watched people having fun. Even Caroline and Elena had let loose a little and were on the dance floor with their hands in the air. Damon smirked and allowed his eyes to roam the crowd. He was contemplating his next move to find Bonnie when his gaze landed on a girl dancing on a table near the DJ. She had gathered quite a crowd of admirers, including a man that was dancing behind her and a woman dancing in front. The girl was wearing a dress that barely covered her butt cheeks and the front of it was cut in a diamond shape that did very little to hide her breasts. It was hard to tell exactly what she looked like because the club was so dark, but Damon could see the flickering lights reflect off the beads of sweat on her neck. Her long hair had been pulled up into a messy ponytail and as she ground her body on the guy behind her, she wrapped her arms around the woman and whispered something to her that made the other girl nod like she was entranced.

Damon wasn't sure what it was about the girl that drew his attention but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Something about the way she moved seemed familiar, but he didn't know why. She finally turned her head enough for him to see her face, but he didn't recognize her. He didn't know her playful eyes, bone straight nose or full lips. But that didn't stop him from walking towards her.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked, but Damon didn't answer.

He kept walking until he was close enough to get a whiff of her over all the scents and odors in the room. She smelled like sweet honeysuckle and oranges, with a hint of roses. It was a scent he would know anywhere, and the smile that overtook him was uncontrollable. He nearly ran back to Stefan and said to his brother, "that's Bonnie."

"What?" Stefan asked with a frown. "That girl up there? That's not Bonnie."

"Yes, it is. I smell her."

"But how..."

"She's using a glamour spell," Damon said. "That's how she's gotten away from us at every stop. Nobody recognized her because she's been hiding her face." He looked at her again and smirked. "Clever little witch."

Stefan still looked skeptical, so they kept watching until the dancing girl grabbed the woman's face and got close like she would kiss her. Instead, she whispered something and a grey stream flowed from the woman's mouth into hers. Damon shook his head.

"She's siphoning. Still don't believe me?"

"You've convinced me. What do we do?"

"I need to talk to her," Damon said as he began to approach. Stefan pulled him back and shook his head.

"She's volatile. Let's just observe right now."

Damon had to use every ounce of self-restraint not to go after her, but he stayed next to Stefan and kept a watchful eye on Bonnie. He wasn't sure how he felt about the way she was dancing so provocatively, or the way her body was on display for everyone in the club. But he definitely knew how he felt when she leaned her head back and kissed the guy dancing with her: furious. As her tongue swept around her partner's mouth, Damon's lips formed a hard line and he felt the heavy weight of jealous anger sitting in the pit of his stomach like a rock. He wanted to rush in and break them up, but he didn't. He waited until she finally stopped making out with the guy and all three of the dancers got off the table.

Damon watched as they made their way to the exit, and he knew it was time to leave. He squeezed his way through the crowd and just missed them as the elevator doors closed. He watched the number on the top of the elevator go up to "PH" and he went down to the front desk and compelled himself a key to the penthouse suite. He tapped his foot anxiously on the long way to the top floor, and he had to swipe his stolen key before the doors opened to the ridiculously opulent penthouse suite. He let himself in and was relieved when he found the unknown man and woman alone in the living room and he heard Bonnie moving around upstairs.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

Instead of answering, Damon grabbed both of them and compelled them at the same time.

"Go screw each other somewhere else and forget everything that happened tonight."

They nodded their obedience and he put them on the elevator downstairs. Once he was alone, he settled himself on the leather couch in the living room and waited for Bonnie to appear. He couldn't ignore the anxious feeling that crept over his body when he heard her soft feet padding down the spiral staircase. He had a smart remark all prepared for her, but his comment died on his lips when she came into the room, looking very different than he'd ever seen her.

She had dropped the glamour spell, so she appeared as her real self. Her slender body was covered in a pewter silk robe that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Even though the robe was closed, her perky breasts and nipples were completely visible. The slit up the middle showed every inch of her smooth legs and if she made one wrong move, he was going to see everything her mother gave her.

"Like what you see?" she asked, putting a hand on her hips.

He jerked his eyes up and met her annoyed gaze.

"I've seen better," he said.

She scoffed. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you not to follow me."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure you said that after you'd drained the life out of me, so you'll understand if I didn't get the memo."

"What do you want, Damon?"

"To bring you home."

"I don't have a home. So you're wasting your time."

"You do have a home and it's in Mystic Falls with me and the rest of the people who care about you."

"The people who care about me?" she asked with a laugh. "There are no such people."

Damon stood up and walked towards her. "You think I'd be following you up and down the east coast if I didn't care about you?"

"Feeling guilt isn't the same as caring," she said dryly.

She turned and walked towards the bar and Damon's eyes very briefly fell to her butt, which was silhouetted perfectly in the robe. When he saw that was not wearing underwear, he cursed himself and stared up at the ceiling.

"You're not safe with Kai," he said. "He's using you. He only wants to pump you full of magic so you'll make his powers permanent."

"I know that."

He frowned and looked down again, to see her standing in front of him with two glasses of bourbon. She offered him one and he reluctantly accepted.

"What do you mean you know?"

"Kai told me that he wants me to make his magic permanent. I know what he's after."

"And you're going to do it?"

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. She sipped some bourbon and sighed. "This smells like you."

Damon put his glass down and then took her glass as well.

"I'm not letting you give Kai permanent powers and I'm sure as hell not going to let you stay here, slutting it up in some club. Put on some clothes and let's go."

Bonnie laughed and folded her arms.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Yes the hell you are."

He grabbed her arm and tried to move her but she held up a hand and threw him down on the couch, where she made him stay. She sauntered towards him, her robe threatening to fall open at any moment, and Damon once again looked up at the ceiling. He inhaled deeply when she sat down on top of him, straddling him.

"Look at me," she directed.

"No."

"Look at me," she said in a firmer tone.

"No. This isn't you. The old Bonnie would never do this and I won't take advantage of the situation."

"The old Bonnie is dead," she said, jerking his chin down and forcing him to look into her eyes. "She died in 1994 and she's never coming back. So I suggest you get used to the new me." She undid her robe but Damon stubbornly refused to look anywhere below her eyes. She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair.

"You know, I had plans for those two people that you ran off. Now that they're gone, I guess you'll have to substitute for them."

Damon screwed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth so hard that he thought they might crack. He sat stone-still when Bonnie nuzzled her nose against his neck and gently kissed his skin.

"I used to think about you," she whispered. "When I was in the shower. I would fantasize about you coming into the bathroom." She kissed his neck again. "You would wait until I had my eyes closed, and then you would slide in behind me. We'd argue, of course," she said with a chuckle against his ear. "But then we'd give in. You'd push me against the shower wall and fuck my brains out."

"Stop it," he said angrily.

The scent of her arousal wafted into his nose and he couldn't stop his fangs from bursting through his gums. He felt Bonnie trace the veins around his eyes and she kissed his chin.

"There's so much sexual tension between us, Damon," she whispered. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her thighs and when he didn't move them, she forced them up slowly. "Nobody has to know."

"Stop it!" he said forcefully, glaring at her even as his vamp face took over.

"You can act like you don't want me but your dick says otherwise," she said, rotating herself on the bulge that had grown in his pants.

"A hot girl is sitting naked on my lap. What do you expect to happen? It doesn't mean I want you, because I don't. I hate you like this. I would never want you," he spat.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake. He'd succeeded in stopping Bonnie's sexual advances, but he could tell from the fiery look in her eyes that he had hurt her feelings. Remorse and a touch of fear overcame him and he started to shake his head.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," he said.

She stared at him with a hard look that he had never seen from her before.

"You've made me upset, Damon," she said in an eerily calm voice. "And when I get upset, people die. Starting with you."

Before he could register what she was saying, she snapped his neck. His head lolled lifelessly and she stood up and closed her robe. She casually poured herself another bourbon, then pulled out her phone and called Kai.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"At the movies. This 3D stuff is amazing!"

She rolled her eyes. "It's time to go. Damon is here. We need to keep moving."

"Yeah, okay, I'll be back soon."

She hung up and then looked at the couch, where Damon's phone was ringing. She picked it up and saw Stefan's name on the screen. She slid the bar across and answered the call.

"Where are you?" Stefan asked. "Did you find Bonnie?"

"Yeah, he found me," she said.

There was a long pause on Stefan's end.

"Where's Damon, Bonnie?"

"I killed him." She heard his sharp intake of breath and she rolled her eyes. "Not for real. I just snapped his neck. Now come get him before I throw his body out the window."

She hung up without offering any additional information and then sat down on the couch next to Damon's temporarily dead body. She didn't put on any more clothes, even after Stefan knocked on the door and she let him in. She saw his eyes bulge out of his head at her attire and he quickly averted his attention to Damon. He wordlessly picked his brother's body up and carried him towards the door. He turned around to say something to Bonnie, but she slammed the door in his face.

Stefan sighed and took Damon down to their suite, where the others were waiting.

"Oh my God, what did she do?" Elena shrieked as she helped Stefan deposit Damon on the bed.

"Nothing permanent," he said. "I think we need to come up with a different plan. Let's get some rest, okay?"

Stefan shooed Caroline and Elena away and left Jeremy to sleep on the couch. He sat in Damon's room until Damon moved a little and then woke up. He sat up and grimaced.

"Did Bonnie break my neck?" he asked.

"Yeah, and I'm starting to pick up on a disturbing trend here. It seems that you go to Bonnie, say something to piss her off, she kind of kills you and then you go back for more. Did you two get into S&amp;M while you were stuck together?"

"I'm glad this amuses you," Damon said dryly. He sat up and sighed. "I hate to ruin your theory, brother, but it doesn't look like I'm the key to Bonnie's humanity. If anything, I'm the key to her rage."

"Rage is an emotion, so that's a good place to start." Stefan stood and gave Damon a reassuring head nod. "We'll get through to her. But I think we should go home, regroup and talk to this witch that Jo found. Try to sleep."

And Damon did try to sleep, but he couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Bonnie: getting hurt, hurting someone, or wearing that damn see-through robe. The images haunted him all night and when morning came, he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He was so tired that he wordlessly offered his keys to Stefan and took the passenger seat, where he slept the whole way home. When they finally arrived at the boarding house, an unfamiliar car was in the driveway. Damon and the rest walked inside and found Jo, Liv and Ric sitting tensely in the company of three tall Black women who gave off very strong witch vibes.

"Who are you?" Damon asked, directing his question to the leader of the group.

"My name is Gwendolyn. I'm the leader of the Salem coven of witches."

"Oh, great, you're here to help us find Bonnie," he said.

"Not quite," Ric said uneasily.

Damon narrowed his eyes and looked from Ric to Gwendolyn.

"What exactly are you doing here?" he asked.

"We are here to find Bonnie Bennett," she said. "And when we do, we're going to kill her."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Come again?" Damon asked as Gwendolyn's words rattled around his brain. "You're going to do what now?"

Gwendolyn straightened her already tall frame and Damon guessed that it was an attempt to intimidate him. She folded her long, graceful fingers into each other and spoke to him like he was a child.

"Bonnie Bennett has broken every rule of the witches' code," she said. "She has not only used Expression but abused it, and she's compounded that error by stealing the lives of fellow witches. She is also in the company of a deranged witch that never should have been released from his prison. These are things that I cannot abide."

"So your solution is to kill her?" he asked with a scoff.

"The sacrifice of one for the safety of many," she said with a small nod.

"And just who are you that you get to decide what happens to her?"

"I'm the Grand Witch of the oldest Coven in this country and one of the most powerful Covens in the world. It's my job to maintain law and order and I cannot do that with two rogue witches running around."

Damon folded his arms. "Well, I'm not gonna let you kill her."

She cracked a half-smile. "You don't have much say in the matter. Now if you'll excuse us."

Gwendolyn walked past him and the other two witches with her wordlessly followed. Damon let them get about halfway to the door before he super-sped behind her, hoping to tackle her to the ground. She spun around right before he got to her and held out her hand, crippling him with an aneurysm.

"Ugh! Stop it, you...bitch!" he screamed.

"I appreciate the fact that you want to help Bonnie, but this is witch business and you'll do well to mind your manners," she said calmly.

"Ma'am, please," Stefan said, always the voice of reason. "I know my brother can be a little brash at times but he means well and we only want to help Bonnie."

"She's beyond helping."

"No she's not," Caroline said. "Could you please just listen to us for like two seconds?"

Gwendolyn looked at Damon, who was still screaming and squirming and she sighed and put her hand down. Stefan helped Damon up and Gwen turned to Caroline.

"Speak," she said.

"Bonnie is my best friend. She's had an incredibly shitty, like unbelievably shitty year. She's died like ten times, she was stuck in a twilight zone with Damon for four months, which is punishment in and of itself..."

"Hey," he frowned.

"Then she was stuck with Kai, then by herself for months! Her parents are dead. Her grandma is dead. The only people she has are us, and we let her down," she said sadly. "It's really not surprising that she's gone bat shit crazy. But you have to let us try to get through to her. Please."

Gwendolyn looked from Caroline, to Stefan, to Damon, who was still scowling. She looked to the other two witches and although no words were spoken, it was obvious that they were communicating in some way. She finally nodded once.

"Fine. I'll make you a deal. If you find Bonnie before I do and bring her to me, I'll strip her of her powers but I'll spare her life."

Caroline grinned and clapped her hands together. "Thank you! Thank you! I promise we'll find her."

"Caroline, I feel like there's a 'but' in there somewhere," Damon said.

"But if I find her first," Gwendolyn said, "and trust me, I will be looking, I will eliminate her and Kai without a second thought." She looked at Damon and narrowed her eyes. "Are we understood?"

He growled at her and she raised an eyebrow in apparent amusement. She and the other witches left without another word. Damon spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at Jo.

"Who the _fuck_ invited her here?" he demanded.

Jo held up her hands in her own defense. "Damon, calm down. I didn't know that she was going to want to kill Bonnie. I thought she was going to help!"

He sped to her and wrapped his hand around her throat.

"Damon!" Stefan said.

"I should kill you," he said to Jo.

"Get off of her, you idiot," Ric said, as he pried Damon's hand off the woman's throat. He pushed him a few times. "What's wrong with you? She said she was trying to help."

"Yeah? And she helped, all right. Helped put Bonnie in a grave somewhere."

"It was an honest mistake. We're not going to get anywhere by pointing fingers and fighting each other."

"Ric is right," Stefan said. "Let's just stay calm, talk about it..."

"Screw talking," Damon said. "I'm done talking. I'm done planning. I'm done doing this your way."

He pushed past Ric, then Stefan, and nearly kicked down the front door on the way to his car. He was still fuming when he got into the front seat and cranked the engine, and he rolled his eyes in annoyance when Stefan got into the passenger side.

"What?" he barked.

"Look, I know you're upset, but flying off the handle and acting like a lunatic isn't going to help."

"You know, I'm really not in the mood for one of your lectures."

"I'm not lecturing you. I'm actually happy to see you care so much about someone other than yourself. Or me. Or Elena. I wasn't aware that you had any space in your heart for someone else."

Damon made a 'pfft' sound, but he loosened his grip on the steering wheel. He rested his head on the back of the seat and the brothers sat in silence for a while, before Damon admitted, "I have no plan. None. I just had to get out of the house before I killed that incompetent rent-a-witch."

Stefan smiled. "So let's make a plan."

"We have to get to Bonnie before the wicked witch of the east does."

"Agreed. How are we gonna do that?"

"No clue," he said pathetically. "There's no way she's still at that hotel and we don't have any way to contact her. She won't answer any phone calls. Hell, I don't even know if she has a phone."

He shook his head back and forth, wondering what he would have to do to find Bonnie. The thought of going to New Orleans and running into Klaus and those idiots even crossed his mind. He was that desperate for a strong enough witch.

"Maybe we should go back to the hotel," Stefan said after some thought.

Damon frowned. "She's not still there."

"No, but maybe she left a phone number." Damon rolled his head to look at Stefan skeptically. "You always have to leave contact information at the hotel in case there's a problem with the credit card or something, right? What if she left a good number?"

"Kind of grasping at straws, aren't you?"

"What do we have to lose? It's our only lead. Might as well try."

"We'd have to go all the way back to Atlanta to compel the front desk people for the information."

"Sounds like a brothers-only road trip to me."

Damon didn't want to smile, so he smirked and put his hands back on the wheel.

"So let's go."

And they did. Damon drove half of the way back to Atlanta, and Stefan did the other half. When they got back to the hotel, Stefan took the lead and approached the front desk manager.

"Hello, sir," the chipper manager said. "How may I help you?"

Stefan got close to him and compelled him by saying, "I need the name and contact information of the girl who was staying in the penthouse last night. And don't give me any shit about it."

The manager nodded and walked away, and when Stefan looked at Damon, Damon nodded in approval.

"Nice," he said.

"I thought you'd like that."

"Here you are, sir," the manager said as he handed over a printout. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Forget you ever saw us," Stefan said, and the manager nodded again.

Stefan handed the papers over to Damon, who took a moment to read them, then smirked.

"Well she wasn't very creative with her check-in name: Sheila Gilbert. There is a phone number here. Probably a fake."

"We'll never know 'til we try."

Damon whipped out his phone and was ashamed at how nervous he was as he dialed the numbers. He had absolutely no expectation that it was a real number, much less one that led to Bonnie, so when he called and it went to voicemail, he wasn't surprised. He almost hung up without leaving a message, but then he thought better of it and decided to take a shot in the dark.

"Hello, _Sheila Gilbert_," he said sarcastically. "This is Damon Salvatore, calling to tell you that you need to bring your ass back to Mystic Falls because we've got a major problem. If you want to know what that problem is, you'll just have to call me back to find out. You know my number."

He hung up and Stefan said, "and now we go home and wait for her to call you."

"You seriously think that number goes to Bonnie?"

"Maybe. Kind of seems like she wants us to find her, doesn't it?"

"How the hell does it seem like that?"

"Think about it," Stefan said. "Bonnie is officially the most powerful witch in the world and if she really wanted to be gone, she could in be London or Paris or Cairo or some remote place a million miles away. But she's not. She's close enough for us to find her and she's using an alias comprised of names of people she loves. She left a phone number that isn't disconnected and I think somewhere deep down inside of her, she's leaving these little breadcrumbs because she wants to be rescued."

Damon let his brother's points seep into his brain, but he stopped himself short of getting too hopeful.

"That's some very wishful thinking."

"One of us has to be optimistic," Stefan said with a smile.

"Since you're so cheery, you get to drive back home," he said as he tossed him the keys.

Stefan didn't seem to mind driving the whole way back, and Damon tried to get some shut-eye but he couldn't. He kept checking his phone every five minutes to make sure he hadn't missed a call or text from Bonnie, but nothing ever came. The sun was just coming out full force by the time they got back to the house, and Damon dragged his tired body up the steps to his room. He felt like he had been on a week-long bender and his body craved sleep. Between the energy drain from Bonnie, all the driving and lack of rest, he wanted to collapse on his bed and sleep until he was rejuvenated.

Instead, he peeled off his clothes and started up the shower. He got in immediately, even as it took the water a few seconds to go from icy cold to burning hot. He adjusted the temperature just enough not to scald and pressed his head to the wall as the water ran through his hair and down his body. For one second, he wanted to think of nothing. He wanted one moment of peace where he wasn't worrying about Bonnie, or thinking about what the hell was going on with his relationship with Elena, or how they were going to stop Kai.

When it became obvious that he wasn't going to get any such peace, he lathered himself up with soap and rinsed off. He wrapped a lush towel around his waist and didn't even bother with the droplets still falling from his head. He planned to drink a whole bottle of bourbon, get as wasted as his vampire body would allow and pass out on his bed. He was about to drop his towel as he stepped into his room, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Bonnie sitting on his bed, her back to the headboard and her ankles crossed. She wore black jeans and a black sweater and black boots. Her hands were folded in her lap and her lips quirked into the tiniest hint of a smile.

"Don't let me stop you," she said.

Damon grabbed the side of his towel to make sure it was fastened before asking, "what are you doing here?"

"I got your message. It sounded important. It _must_ be important if you insist on communicating with me even though I nearly maim you every time we talk. So spill it."

"That's not a very nice way to ask, is it?"

"Fine, then I'll leave," she said as she started to move. He realized that playing with her wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he quickly said, "there are some witches from the Salem coven that are looking for you. They're planning to kill you."

Bonnie froze in her movements, but then smiled in amusement. "Oh, are they? I'd like to see them try."

"I get that you're the head bitch in charge of the witch community right now, but this woman didn't seem like she was a pushover. And if she's got an army of followers, they can probably take you down."

"Doubtful."

She got off the bed and headed for the door, but Damon stepped in front of her and grabbed her arm.

"Enough's enough, Bonnie," he said seriously. "You killed witches and now you've got a target on your back. You've had your little rebellious phase and now the fun's over."

Bonnie yanked her arm away from him. "It's not a phase, Damon. How many times do I have to tell you that this is the way I am now?"

"You can tell me until you're blue in the face and I still won't believe you. I know that you're still in there somewhere and I'm going to keep digging until I find you."

She clenched her jaw and stared at him, and he stared right back.

"For someone who hates me, you sure do seem to want to keep me alive," she said in a tone that sounded an awful like hurt. "I guess you just want your good little witch back so I can return to saving everyone's life but my own."

Damon took her arm again, gentler this time, and as she fought him, he pulled her until she was almost pressing against his moist chest. "I told you I didn't mean that. I don't hate you. You know that. And the only life I want you to save _is_ yours. But if you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to spin out of control and if you don't kill yourself, Kai will, and if he doesn't, the witches will. Is that really what you want?"

She pushed away from him again, but instead of walking out of the door, she turned and paced near his bed. She put her hands on her hips and sighed, and if Damon didn't know better, he would have thought she was worried.

"Who came for me?" she asked lowly.

"Gwendolyn." He could tell by the way she stopped walking that she knew her. "You've heard of her?"

"Yes."

"So she's a threat, then."

"As much of a threat as I could have, yes."

Damon wasn't sure what to say or do next with Bonnie showing something akin to vulnerability. He didn't want to run her off or upset her, so he simply stood there in his towel, watching as she paced again.

"I killed all those people because I was chasing the high I got when I siphoned from you," she said, her back still to him. "I must have drained ten different supernaturals in one night, and it still wasn't as good as taking it from you." She turned on her heels and shrugged. "I can't stop. The Expression won't let me. And even if I could, I don't want to."

It was so simple but so heartbreaking and she said it such a matter-of-fact tone.

"Then take it from me," Damon said. "You like my energy the best, you can have it."

She narrowed her eyes like she was studying him and trying to detect if he just was posturing. When she realized that he was serious, she shook her head.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because, Bennett, despite your absolute refusal to believe me, I give a shit about you and watching you die for the hundredth time would kind of ruin my week."

He thought he saw the beginnings of a smile, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

"Okay," she said. "Then show me just how much you care, Damon."

He hesitated for a second, unsure of what she meant. But then she arched an eyebrow and looked at the bed, and he understood her meaning. He thought about putting some clothes on, but something told him that time was of the essence and even the few seconds it would take to get dressed might push Bonnie away. So he secured the towel around his waist and sat on the edge of the bed, and watched as she sauntered over to him with all the confidence of the badass witch she had become.

She stared at him as she lifted one knee and placed it on one side of him, then the did the same with the other. She hovered over him for just a second, then lowered herself slowly until she was sitting right on his crotch. She purposely wiggled around a little but he refused to show any reaction.

"Open your mouth," she directed.

"You could ask a little nicer."

She cocked her head to the side and smiled.

"Oh, is that how this is going to go? You want me to beg you?"

"I didn't say you have to beg. But you could wine and dine me a little before you drain the life out of me."

"I could," she said as she ran a long finger along his shoulder. "Or I could just take it like I did last time." She traced the middle of his chest, then pushed on the area near his heart. It wasn't a hard push, but he couldn't control himself as his back fell to the bed and she straddled him with an evil grin. When he couldn't move, he knew that she had put some kind of spell on him.

"How are you doing that?" he asked. "Controlling me without even saying anything?"

"You'd be amazed at how much power I have right now," she said. "Kai is teaching me how to harness it. I don't need to talk or chant or light candles." She leaned down until her face was nuzzled against his neck. "I can just _think_ it."

She ran her nose up his neck, over his chin and past his lips until their noses were touching. He looked into her fierce green eyes and felt the overwhelming urge to open his mouth, which he did. He immediately had that same draining sensation as before, and although his energy was fading quickly, he made himself watch her. He noticed how her eye color intensified and how the hand that was on his chest gripped his skin. He fought the urge to pass out but it was a battle that he couldn't win. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was Bonnie with her head tossed back, breathing heavily and sighing like she had never felt such pleasure.

For a minute, everything was black and he couldn't feel, see or hear anything. But then the taste of tangy blood filled his mouth. After one huge gulp, he jolted back to life and grasped the source of blood with all his strength. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see Bonnie's wrist in his mouth and her electrified eyes trained on him. He kept feeding from her and he groaned and grunted with each pull. She tasted sweet like he remembered, but the excess magic also gave her blood a quality that was hard to describe. She was so powerful that it burst through her blood like electricity.

When he finally had enough, he pulled his teeth away and moaned like someone who had eaten too much of something good.

"You taste like sugar and lightning," he said, unable to stop the confession.

Bonnie laughed, like a real, old-school-Bonnie laugh. He watched as she swiped her thumb across his bottom lip, collecting what was left of her blood. He swallowed hard when she stuck the thumb in her own mouth and whimpered.

"You're right," she said. "I'm delicious."

The double entendre wasn't lost on him. He tried to move again, but he was still under her spell.

"You've fed from me, and I've fed from you. I think you can let me go now," he said.

"I will, after I tell you something important."

She gently grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her magically-enhanced eyes, which widened and constricted a few times as she spoke.

"I want to do this again," she said. "I want you to be available to me every night."

"I'll be available to you every night," he repeated.

"I may not come every night, but I want you to sit here and wait for me, just in case I do. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Don't tell anyone else about what we're doing. If someone asks, you haven't seen me, you don't know where I am, and they should stop looking."

"I won't tell them," he said.

"Good boy. Now go to sleep."

And he did. His eyes immediately closed, his head lolled to the side, and sleep overtook him. He didn't see Bonnie staring at him with all the love in the world. He didn't feel her caress his cheek. And he didn't hear when she left just as quietly as she'd come.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next few days were relatively quiet. The killings had stopped and there had been no word from Bonnie or Kai. While Stefan and the gang still gathered daily to talk about how to proceed, he noticed that Damon didn't participate. He assumed that his brother was just tired after all the traveling and confusion, so he was happy when he could share some good news about the situation. He'd called in a few favors from a friend at the FBI, who had traced the phone number Bonnie gave to the hotel. The phone had been used recently, right outside of Mystic Falls. Stefan took the report to Damon, who was pouring a glass of bourbon in the study.

"Hey," Stefan said. Damon recognized him with a nod. "I've got some news about Bonnie."

Damon's eyes narrowed and he immediately looked suspicious. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. That phone number she gave to the hotel in Atlanta? It's being used. And it's pinging right outside of Mystic Falls."

He handed the report to Damon, who scanned it but otherwise said nothing. Stefan frowned and folded his arms.

"I was expecting more of a reaction than this," he said.

"You know, little brother, I'm actually starting to think that maybe we need to stop looking for Bonnie."

Stefan's frown deepened. "What? This coming from the guy who's been moving heaven and earth to find her? Why would we stop now? She's right in our backyard. Don't you want to know where she is?"

Damon's head snapped up and he had a blank stare on his face as he said, "I don't know where Bonnie is. I haven't seen her, and I don't think we should look for her anymore. She'll come home when she's ready."

"What the hell are you talking about, Damon? She's out of control. She won't come home when she's ready because she'll never be ready. Weren't you the one saying how we need to be there for her?"

Damon balled up the report, threw it into the burning fireplace, and then brushed past his brother.

"Leave it alone," he said, as he walked out of the room.

Stefan stood there, utterly dumbfounded. He had no idea what had just happened or why Damon's attitude had changed so drastically. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

So for the rest of the day, he observed Damon. He watched his every move, trying to spot even one thing that was out of place. He mostly seemed like himself, drinking bourbon and snarking at people. But every time someone brought up the subject of Bonnie, he either clammed up entirely or said that they should stop looking for her. Then, almost as soon as the sun set, he went upstairs to his room without another word and never came back down.

Stefan thought back over the past couple of days and realized that Damon had been repeating that behavior nightly. He would drop whatever he was doing when night fell, go up to his room, and never be seen for the rest of the night. Stefan had chalked it up to being tired, but now he wasn't so sure.

The group of friends dispersed for the evening and Stefan offered to drive Caroline home, where Liz was resting and unfortunately, slowly wasting away. Caroline never wanted to talk about it, not that Stefan blamed her. She just did what she always did: found ways to distract herself and stay positive. It was something Stefan loved about her. As they got out of his car, she was chatting away about something, purses maybe, when she stopped mid-sentence and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked.

"Yes." She raised an eyebrow and he smiled sheepishly. "Okay, no, not really. I'm sorry."

"What's going on?" she asked gently.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Something's up with Damon. I can't quite figure it out but he's being very weird."

"About Bonnie?" she asked. He nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that, too. Maybe he's just having some kind guilt attack, you know? He did kind of leave her there in that prison world all that time, and now she's totally f'ing crazy, and it's kind of his fault."

"That's what I thought, too, but then today when I told him that we could find her using her cell phone records, he threw the records in the fireplace and gave me this strange answer about not seeing her and not knowing where she is. It was like his response was rehearsed."

Stefan shook his head, unsatisfied with his own assessment, and Caroline, in her usual way, just blurted out what she was thinking.

"Sounds like he's compelled or something," she joked. She shrugged and kissed Stefan on the cheek. "Good night. Thanks for bringing me home. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded, but his brain was still stuck on what she'd said. It was like Damon was compelled. That blank stare, the rehearsed answer...it _was_ like he was compelled. Stefan's mind immediately jumped to the Originals, but he had no idea why any of them would care about the situation or why they would compel Damon. He didn't know of anyone else who was powerful enough to do so, either.

Unless...

Bonnie was super powerful but he wasn't sure if she was capable of compelling a vampire. Then again, she was stealing vampire lives and maybe it was possible that she was taking on their traits. He thought about it all night and decided that if Bonnie was one controlling Damon, she was probably the reason he disappeared into his room every night. Stefan had no idea why or what they were doing, but he was going to find out.

The next night, he excused himself right before the sun went down and hid in Damon's closet. He felt like a freak but he knew it was the only way he would truly find out what was going on. He held his breath the entire time, peeping through the tiny slit in the closet doors and watching as Damon appeared from the shower, dressed, and then sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window for a while. He didn't move a muscle. He simply sat there and waited. Stefan was sure it was for Bonnie. But she never came.

Damon eventually gave up and turned over and went to sleep. Stefan crept out of the room and wondered if he had lost his mind. It didn't stop him from doing it the next night, though, or the night after that. He was three nights in, ready to just open the closet doors and subject himself to his brother's ridicule, when it finally happened.

Bonnie came.

Stefan couldn't tell from where she had appeared, but he saw her slim figure through the slight opening in the doors. He heard her voice and Damon's and centimeter by centimeter, he opened the doors until he could see what was going on. His mouth fell open when he saw Damon perched on the bed, with his back to the headboard, and Bonnie straddled on top of him.

"Did you miss me?" she asked in a tone that he hardly recognized as hers.

"No," Damon said, but his voice gave away his delight at seeing her.

"Liar. I might have to punish you."

"I wasn't sure you were coming back. You never wait this long."

"I can't get predictable, now, can I?" She ran her hands through his hair. "Has anyone been asking about me?"

"Just the usual stuff. Stefan is being nosey."

"What did you tell them?"

"What you told me to say."

"Good boy. You must want a reward."

Stefan watched as she offered her wrist, and Damon went for it, but she pulled it away.

"Me first," she said.

Damon obeyed her like an obedient puppy and opened his mouth for her. She leaned down to him and the stream of energy flowed from him to her. Bonnie held his face and Stefan wasn't sure if he should intervene or not when he saw his brother being drained of life, yet again. The only thing that stopped him was that it was obvious that the two of them had done it before and Damon was still alive. He watched, somewhat uncomfortably, when Bonnie finished and breathed heavily, panting and whimpering like she was having an orgasm.

"God, you taste good," she whispered to Damon, even though he was incapacitated and he probably didn't hear her.

She leaned down further to him, wiping hair away from her neck and offering herself to him. She pushed her neck into his mouth until one of his teeth punctured her skin. Blood dribbled out and a few drops got into his mouth. He groaned and pulled her closer and then latched on in earnest. Stefan wasn't sure if he should turn away or keep watching when Damon's hands grabbed onto her hips and he made sounds like he was feasting on the finest meal. It didn't help that Bonnie was encouraging him.

"Don't stop," she said. "Drink it all."

"Mmph," Damon responded. He did stop, though, and when his head fell back, he sighed. "Shit," he groaned.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Don't make me wait that long for your blood again," he said.

"Oh, you're giving the orders now?"

"Don't act like you weren't dying to feed from me again, too."

"_Dying_ might be a bit of an exaggeration."

She started to get up, but Damon pulled her back down.

"Why do you always leave?" he asked. "You could stay, you know. Talk. Bicker. Whatever. We were friends before."

"Yeah, before."

"You think I was just sitting here with my thumbs up my ass, letting you rot all by yourself? I wasn't. I was looking for you."

"Right. I bet after you finished fucking Elena each night, you spent your entire day agonizing over little old me." Damon started to respond, but she held up her hand and his mouth closed. "Remember what I told you. Don't tell anybody about this. Now go to sleep."

And just like that, Damon's body fell into sleep. Stefan watched as Bonnie took Damon's unconscious head in her hands, mumbled something that Stefan wasn't able to hear, then kissed Damon's forehead and got up. She walked out of Stefan's line of vision, and then everything was silent. He waited for a few minutes before he came out, and he looked around to make sure that Bonnie was gone. He then hurried to Damon and shook his brother awake.

"Damon. Damon! Wake up!"

Damon opened his eyes, groggy and confused, like he had been asleep for hours, not minutes.

"What?"

"Bonnie was just here."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely confused. "Bonnie wasn't here."

"Smell around you," Stefan said. "Smell and you'll know she was here."

"Get off me, you idiot. What is wrong with you?"

"Damon," he sighed. "Bonnie was here. She fed off of you, and you fed off of her, and apparently, this is what you've been doing for the past week. She's compelling you to not talk about it."

Damon narrowed his eyes, barely concealing his rage.

"Do you hear yourself right now? Bonnie can't compel me! She's not a vampire and she sure as hell isn't an Original!"

"She's taking on vampire traits because she's feeding from you and she's using it to control you. This has to stop. We need to turn her in to Gwen before she kills you or herself."

Damon pushed Stefan off his bed, then got up and pushed him again.

"Get. Out," he said angrily.

Stefan tightened his jaw and nodded. "Okay, fine. You won't believe me? I'll prove it to you. Then we're going to talk about this."

He slammed the door on his way out and headed straight for the living room. He dug out a video camera and smiled. He was going to prove it, all right.

...

Damon didn't know why he was so agitated. Ever since that conversation with Stefan about Bonnie compelling him, he had been on edge. He tried to remember what had happened before Stefan woke him up, but his mind was completely blank. The last thing he recalled was walking upstairs and shutting his door. He had smelled the room, just as Stefan suggested, and he gritted his teeth when he smelled Bonnie. Somewhere inside of him, he knew that she had been there. He knew he had seen her. But he couldn't remember it. And he couldn't form the words to say it.

He stubbornly avoided everyone for the next several days, mindlessly separating himself from the group every night as soon as the sun went down. And every morning, it was the same thing. He was alone in his bed, smelling of Bonnie, but unable to remember her.

At least, that was until one morning, he woke up with a video camera on his stomach and a sticky note that said "watch me." He had a feeling as to what was on the video, and his thoughts were confirmed when he pushed 'play.' His heart sank as the video camera, which had been set up on his desk without his noticing, showed Bonnie in his room, on top of him, sucking him of life. He watched her revive him by offering her blood, which he drank greedily. They talked a little, mostly bickered, and then she directed him on what to say. She compelled him to sleep, and when he woke up, his memories were gone.

There were seven days worth of encounters, and he clenched his jaw and threw the camera across the room. It shattered against his wall and he balled up his fists up in anger, although he didn't know exactly where the anger originated. He didn't know if he was mad because Bonnie had taken such control over him, or if he was disappointed with himself for being so weak. He was supposed to be helping her, and instead, he was only reinforcing her bad habits. He went downstairs to knock back some bourbon, but he stopped when he saw found Stefan, Caroline, Elena and Jeremy in the living room, talking in hushed tones. Gossiping about him, he knew.

"Hey," Stefan said as everyone fell quiet.

Damon kept his angry posture, but admitted quietly, "I saw the tape."

"We have to stop her, Damon."

"She's not hurting anyone," he defended. "She stopped killing other people."

"That doesn't erase the fact that she did it before. Gwendolyn will come after her and it's probably only a matter of time before she realizes that Bonnie's coming here every night, to see you."

The threat of Gwen killing Bonnie wasn't spoken, but it lingered in the air. Damon crossed his arms and smirked.

"And I suppose you geniuses have come up with a plan?" he asked sarcastically.

"She's taking on vampire traits," Jeremy spoke up. "Which means she's probably vulnerable to vampire weaknesses." Damon arched an irritated eyebrow. "Vervain."

"You want me to vervain her?"

"Just long enough to get her down," Caroline said.

"And then what?"

All eyes went to Stefan. "And then, we turn her into Gwendolyn."

"Hell no," Damon said, as he started to walk away. Stefan jumped in front of him.

"We have to."

"We don't _have_ to do anything. We don't even know this chick! She might kill her anyway."

"She gave us her word that she wouldn't."

"And we're just supposed to trust her word? No way."

"Do you have a better idea?" Stefan asked.

Damon could feel everyone looking at him as the thoughts raced through his head.

"We'll take her downstairs and lock her up, just like we do everyone else who needs to detox."

"That may not work," Stefan said. "We don't know if this vervain thing will even affect her, and if it does, we don't know how long it'll last."

"That's the deal, or I don't do it," Damon said.

Stefan looked to everyone else, and all they nodded. "Okay, fine. We'll do it your way."

Damon's posture relaxed slightly. "Good. Now how exactly am I supposed to vervain her? She's faster and stronger than I am and she'll see it coming a mile away."

"You'll need to distract her."

"Distract her? How?"

Stefan was silent, and nobody would look at Damon in the eye, until Elena stood up and said, "can I talk to you alone?"

The others dispersed, leaving Damon and Elena in the living room.

"Bonnie has feelings for you," Elena said. "You should use that to your advantage. I think it's pretty obvious that you're the only one who can get close enough to her, so...you should do that."

"Do what?"

"Get close to her." She looked down at her feet and messed with her hands before adding, "physically."

He blinked several times, then asked, "are you suggesting that I sleep with Bonnie?"

"Yes." She swallowed and nodded, like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

"I'm not doing that."

"How else are you going to get her to let her guard down long enough to vervain her?"

"I can't have sex with Bonnie, Elena."

"Why not? And don't stand here and say that you're not attracted to her," she scoffed. "I've seen the video, too. I see how cozy you guys are."

"She's not herself! She's so high on magic, she'd probably hit on Stefan!"

"But she never has!" she yelled back. "She hasn't ever come to Stefan or Alaric or even Jeremy, her boyfriend! She wants _you_, Damon. She's in love with _you_."

Heavy silence fell over them, and Damon was truly torn. The girl he had been loving and chasing for years was in front of him, telling him to have sex with her best friend to save her life.

"This is so fucked up," he said, scrubbing face with his hands.

"Yeah, it is, but Bonnie's my friend," Elena said quietly. "I know I don't always act like it, and I realize that I've done a lot of things to make her life pretty horrible. I want her to come back home, and I really think the only way that will happen is through you. So please. Do this for me."

Damon cracked a small smile and shook his head. "That's your problem, Elena. You still think this is about you." He sighed. "I'll do it. But not for you. For Bonnie."

She nodded and he saw her bottom lip tremble, but she left before she broke into tears. He stood there alone for a while, then opened the bourbon and drank straight from the bottle. Someone grasped his shoulder and he thought it was Stefan, but it was Jeremy whose face appeared in his line of vision.

"Here," he said, handing Damon a small syringe of vervain.

Damon accepted it, and the two men stared at each other in awkward silence.

"Can you just not be a dick to her for once?" Jeremy asked. "Don't hurt her."

Damon nodded but he didn't say anything and Jeremy left him to his drinking. He spent the rest of the day thinking about his predicament, and whether he could or should really use Bonnie's feelings for him against her. He was still undecided when he went up to his room for the night and placed the vervain in the top drawer of his nightstand, close enough to access from his bed. He was still thinking when he took a shower. He stood underneath the spray for nearly an hour, going over the implications of everything. On one hand, he knew that he would feel guilty taking advantage of Bonnie in her current state. But he also knew that he wanted to get his old Bonnie back. And that was more important than anything else.

He made up his mind to do whatever he had to do to help Bonnie, and when he got out of the shower, he dried off and pulled on some black pajama pants but didn't bother with a shirt. He rested on his bed, wondering if Bonnie would appear that night or not. He grabbed a book to take his mind off the waiting, but about an hour in, his eyes started getting heavy. He woke up some time later when the smell of Bonnie infiltrated his sleep, and he found her sitting in a chair across from his bed, watching him.

Upon seeing her, all the memories of their past trysts came flooding back. Every foggy thought of their time together came into full focus, and he knew that once she compelled him again, he'd forget it all.

"You're pretty when you sleep," she said quietly.

"How long have you been here?"

She shrugged with one shoulder. "A little while. Long enough to know that I'm not the only one who talks in my sleep."

He put his book on the nightstand and folded his hands on his stomach.

"Come here," he said.

He expected her to make some comment that he was not the one giving orders, but she didn't. She silently walked to the bed, then crawled on top of it. She didn't stop until she was hovering over him. He noticed the sad look in her eyes, and he wiped some hair away from her face.

"You're different tonight," he noted. "Subdued."

At first, she didn't say anything. Then she surprised him by resting her head on his chest and hugging his waist. He hesitated, then rubbed her back.

"Gwendolyn's coming for me," she confessed. "She's been sniffing around. I can feel her aura everywhere I go. She's playing with me. Making me paranoid."

"Then why stay here? You could go anywhere in the world and she wouldn't find you."

"Because."

"Because what?"

She didn't answer for a while. Then, she lifted her head and looked at him. "Because you're here."

Damon was speechless. Not only because of what she'd said, but because for the first time since her return from the prison world, he saw a glimpse of his Bonnie underneath the person in front of him. If he had any doubt that she was still in there somewhere, her statement proved that she was.

"But I'm leaving tonight," she continued. "I don't know where I'll go yet."

"Is Kai going with you?" He frowned when she nodded. "You can't trust him. He'll turn on you."

"Probably. But I'll turn on him first." He continued to frown. "There's nothing here for me, Damon. It's time to go."

"So this is goodbye," he said.

"I guess so. One last shot of your energy to tide me over. Are you up for that?"

"Do I have a choice?"

She half-smiled. "No."

"Then let's do this, Bon-Bon."

She inched her face closer to his and he voluntary opened his mouth. He felt that sensation of her taking his energy, but where it had once been unpleasant, he found himself kind of enjoying it. He kind of liked the sleepy feeling that overcame him as she drained him almost to the point of unconsciousness. She stopped short, though, and he was just cognizant enough to accept the tender flesh of her neck that she placed against his lips. He sank his teeth into her and groaned when her powerful blood rushed into his mouth. His hands gripped her hips and he held her against him until he couldn't drink anymore.

When he finished, he watched as the puncture wounds on her neck healed. He could tell from the way that Bonnie was slowly beginning to move that she was about to compel him and leave. A moment of panic gripped him when he thought about her leaving forever and he knew it was time to make his move.

So before she could get away from him, he planted a kiss on her neck where he had bitten her. She froze in place as he briefly worried that she would push him away, but she didn't. So he continued to kiss her, just little pecks at first. Her skin was soft and sweet, and he worked his lips from one side of her neck to the other. He sucked a chunk into his mouth and she made a little noise.

"Damon," she sighed as she pulled away and shook her head.

"Don't," he said. "Don't tell me to stop. I know you want this, and so do I."

"I'm leaving."

"I know that. So let me give you something to remember me by."

He could see the indecision on her face, so he slowly leaned up until their lips were almost touching. Their eyes locked and he waited for to give him permission. Her green eyes jumped all over his face, trying to determine if his advances were real or not. What she saw must have satisfied her, because she gave him the slightest nod and he was just about to kiss her when his door flung open.

Their heads snapped to the open door, where Gwendolyn walked in with her hand outstretched. Bonnie screamed an ear-splitting screech and Damon doubled over in pain as his brain was racked with continuous aneurysms. He could barely focus long enough to see Gwendolyn standing over him as one of the other witches swooped in and stabbed a needle into Bonnie's neck. She immediately went limp in the witch's arms.

"NO!" Damon screamed, even though it hurt to move or talk. "Leave her alone!"

"Thank you, Damon," Gwen said calmly, still looming over him. "For making Bonnie so easy to catch. Love is always a person's greatest downfall."

"Please..." He grabbed his head and tried to make the pain stop, but nothing helped. "Please..don't...hurt...her," he struggled to say.

"What we do to her remains to be seen," she said. "Good night."

And then she plunged a vervain needle in his neck and everything went black.


End file.
